Snake Featherston
Banned
Well if you really must provoke a war, I'd certainly argue that the latter course is the more sound one, but you have a fair point nonetheless. Lincoln's decision there was a direct cause of the Civil War. I wonder how aware he was of the certainty of this policy provoking war.... Probably quite aware. Again, removing Lincoln in favor of someone with less balls might honestly be enough.
Again though, Lincoln got a chance to resupply the fort because it was still occupied when most other federal installations had been unilaterally abandoned. Had it been abandoned prior, he would have had to do something else. And some things he could have done might not have elicited the desired aggression from the CSA.
Not necessarily, the South is going to have to get rid of Sumter sooner or later no matter which President rules the Union. If Sumter is retained, the CSA's a joke (which it was anyway, but still), if Sumter is attacked, CSA's the aggressor and things likely go as OTL.